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I've been stressing these days searching for a video on using a Normal map with a Bump map, but I haven't found something good. Some suggest connecting the Bump input into the Displacement output and others suggest connecting it to the Normal output of a Shader (both using a Bump node). What would be considered a right way of doing it? The Bump node has a Normal output. Is that for the Normal map?

I have this road scene where the bricks are too smooth and I would go for making them more bumpy - enter image description here

I want to use the Noise texture as a Bump map, but the bricks already have a Normal map so that I have no idea where the bump node should be connected. And when connecting it into the Displacement output nothing happens.

In a tutorial by Andrew Price called "The Secrets Of Realistic Texturing", the Normal map is connected into the Displacement output, but I'm not sure if it is a good way of doing it and the bumps are more like some streched lines which is not what a Noise texture would do - http://qgv6y6drlr2sy3es4blouyvd9.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/01/complete1.png

Here's the file if anybody comes up with something - http://www.pasteall.org/blend/31902

I'm unable to upload the maps (too high resolution), sorry. But, you can use maps of your own.

Here's the node setup - enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ The question has been answered but I have another one: I'm very curious as to what those 2 mix shaders(0.04) are doing. Please explain! $\endgroup$
    – Cos Dim
    Commented Feb 3, 2018 at 22:21
  • $\begingroup$ @CosDim At first glance I too thought they were identical and redundant, but if you look closely, one is Fac:0.004 (almost pure Diffuse) and the other is Fac:0.04 (still mostly Diffuse with a little Glossy). Then the Image Texture node above is factoring that mix together. There are simpler ways to do this, plus the Principled BSDF now makes the method of mixing Diffuse+Glossy obsolete, as the roughness is controlled with a single slider. $\endgroup$
    – Mentalist
    Commented Apr 22, 2020 at 8:47

2 Answers 2

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normal and bump map node setup

This is the correct setup to combine normal and bump maps.

If you use a normal map, you can't use the displacement material output, you have to plug it directly into the BSDF. The normal map must go first, and then you can add bump mapping on top of it.

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  • $\begingroup$ For transparent objects, this setup works great too, but needs to not have the "Normal Map" node $\endgroup$
    – MicroMachine
    Commented Apr 14, 2016 at 23:55
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enter image description here Yes, I like that combo as well... here I use a bump map instead of a noise texture (since it is a height map) and combine it with a normal map -> with the output going into the Normal map input of the Principled BSDF where you can easily add the diffuse (color), Metallic (Specular), Gloss (or roughness inverted) maps. This seems to work best for me. Adjust the strength settings on the Normal and Bump map nodes to your liking.

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